Pedestrians cross a footbridge displaying the national flags of China and the regional flags of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the Wan Chai district, Hong Kong, on Sept 29, 2022. (ISAAC LAWRENCE / AFP)
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will write to Google again to ensure that the correct Chinese national anthem appears instantly at the top of the US technology giant’s search engine, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday.
He said the national anthem represents the nation’s dignity and the people’s feelings, and playing the correct anthem and displaying the right anthem message is a “major matter of principle that involves moral issues”.
Chief Executive John Lee said the national anthem represents the nation’s dignity and the people’s feelings, and playing the correct anthem and displaying the right anthem message is a “major matter of principle that involves moral issues”
The SAR government will continue to negotiate with Google, and has asked different departments to see if there’re other matters to be followed up.
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The government had earlier written to Google, requesting that it should insert the correct Chinese national anthem – March of the Volunteers – as the national anthem of Hong Kong. The request was made after a series of national anthem blunders during several overseas sports games involving Hong Kong teams. At the matches, a song associated with the 2019 unrest was incorrectly played or presented as the Chinese national anthem.
Secretary for Security Tang Ping-keung said on Monday Google had rejected the request, saying the search results are generated by an algorithm with no human input. “We greatly regret this as it has hurt the feelings of Hong Kong people,” he said.
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Tang described Google’s explanation as “unbelievable” as anyone who pays Google for advertisements can have the right information inserted.